What is the primary focus of negative punishment?

The primary focus of negative punishment is centered around reducing undesirable behaviors by removing positive stimuli. Negative punishment occurs when a pleasant stimulus is taken away in response to an unwanted behavior, thereby decreasing the likelihood of that behavior happening again in the future.

For instance, if a child misbehaves and loses access to a favorite toy, the child is likely to associate the negative consequence of losing the toy with their misbehavior. This approach aims to discourage the undesired behavior by making it less appealing through the removal of something enjoyable or rewarding.

The other options reflect different concepts related to behavior modification but do not accurately describe the mechanism of negative punishment. For example, enhancing desirable behaviors typically relates to positive reinforcement, which involves adding a rewarding stimulus instead of removing one. Similarly, introducing penalties aligns more with positive punishment, where an unpleasant consequence is added in response to a behavior, and increasing positive behavior through modeling involves observational learning rather than punishment strategies.